Your success as a result of sales training and return on investment is dependent on several factors. Some organisations will experience a huge difference in results after the sales training, while others will achieve a more modest return on investment.

Which are those factors?

The three most telling indicators that a business will benefit from sales training are:

• Number of leads
• Average price point
• Number of transactions.

The strengths or weaknesses that each business brings are bases around these three parameters. Companies with low figures may have a relatively lower increase in success following sales training as they are limited by their existing client base and conversion rate or price point.

For companies with high figures for number of leads, price point and number of transactions, an increase in conversion rates either on the phone or at appointments will have an exponential ROI for sales training.

Do you have an example?

To illustrate with an example, consider a hypothetical business with the following measurements of success prior to sales training:

• 100 leads
• 20 appointments (20% telephone conversion)
• 10 clients (50% appointment conversion)
• An average price of £1000
• An average number of transactions of 1
• Therefore the business is selling £10,000 per month.

If this business were to increase its conversion rate to 40% (which is not an uncommon increase) after 3 months, the sales training ROI will be 5.

Another business might have:

• 1000 leads
• 20 appointments (20% telephone conversion)
• 10 clients (50% appointment conversion)
• An average price of £1000
• An average number of transactions of 1
• Therefore this business also sells £10,000 per month.

If this business were also to increase its conversion rate to 40% after 3 months, the sales training ROI would be 59.

The equation works the same for higher average prices and transactions. A higher price point or more transactions per customer are huge factors. It’s easy to see that increasing transactions for a company with a product or service worth £5,000 will provide a much higher return than a company with an average price point of £500.

It therefore makes a great deal of sense for a business with either many leads, a high price point, and a high average number of repeat transactions to commission sales training.